This past weekend homosexuals marched down the main streets of Haiti in their first openly gay march ever. They timed this march to raise awareness about AIDS, the march was held a day before the Words AIDS day, the Country is trying to raise awareness about the spread of AIDS because it is a growing problem that is plaguing. Of the people known with AIDS, homosexuals consist of 2/3 of he total amount. So they believe if they can raise awareness levels and educate about prevention and treatment to the gay community it will help a lot. Haiti's AIDS problem is well on its way towards and epidemic, they are the most affected country in Latin America, and they are home to the highest rate of AIDS infection outside Sub-Saharan Africa. The United States is very involved in helping Haiti solve this problem, they have invested nearly 320 million to the education and prevention of the disease. The money has gone to good use because the infection rate has fallen from 5.6 percent in 1996 to currently, 2.2 percent. The main problem that Haiti and many other countries in Latin America deal with, is that homosexuals are too embarrassed and afraid they will be harassed so they wont seek help.
IN Haiti harassment of homosexuals is a problem. This past election year, the Prime Minister was running for re-election until rumors of her being a lesbian surfaced, citizens of Haiti did not approve and virtually required a live broadcast of her on Haitian radio denouncing the rumors.
AIDS is a growing problem in Haiti and the rest of Latin America especially among homosexuals, and the first step to solving the problem is to stop the harassment so infected persons can seek help safely. It is definitely a big step in the right direction that openly gay marches are being held and that the country is trying the raise awareness of the growing epidemic.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Does Sexual Education in the Caribbean Work, or does it worsen the situation?
Some of the commonly asked questions include: why do we target sexual education towards young children when sexually active adults are the ones at risk, are widespread protective behaviours realistic, given that sexuality is so deep seated, are women infected more than men, and does poverty have a correlation towards sexual diseases?
According to documentation written by David Plummer, the UNESCO Chair in Education (HIV/AIDS), the sexual debut before 15 goes as follows: one quarter of 15-29 year-old women in Barbados, just over 30% of young men and around 12% of young women in Guyana, 63% of young men and over 37% of young women in SVG, and 28% of young men and 12% of young women in Haiti.
With regards to the impact of sexually transmitted diseases, Plummer states, “HIV infection was found to be six times higher among 15–19 year-old females than among males of the same age in Trinidad and Tobago, women under 24 years were almost twice as likely to be HIV positive than among males of the same age in the Dominican Republic, teenage girls were found to be two-and-a-half times more likely to be HIV-infected, compared to their male counterparts in Jamaica.”
Many people believe that severe action needs to be taken with regards to preventing these serious diseases from continuously spreading from generation to generation. Ideas of action have been brought to the attention of the UNESCO, specifically by David Plummer, to continue there pursuit in this battle. Some of these proposals are:
Some of the commonly asked questions include: why do we target sexual education towards young children when sexually active adults are the ones at risk, are widespread protective behaviours realistic, given that sexuality is so deep seated, are women infected more than men, and does poverty have a correlation towards sexual diseases?
According to documentation written by David Plummer, the UNESCO Chair in Education (HIV/AIDS), the sexual debut before 15 goes as follows: one quarter of 15-29 year-old women in Barbados, just over 30% of young men and around 12% of young women in Guyana, 63% of young men and over 37% of young women in SVG, and 28% of young men and 12% of young women in Haiti.
With regards to the impact of sexually transmitted diseases, Plummer states, “HIV infection was found to be six times higher among 15–19 year-old females than among males of the same age in Trinidad and Tobago, women under 24 years were almost twice as likely to be HIV positive than among males of the same age in the Dominican Republic, teenage girls were found to be two-and-a-half times more likely to be HIV-infected, compared to their male counterparts in Jamaica.”
Many people believe that severe action needs to be taken with regards to preventing these serious diseases from continuously spreading from generation to generation. Ideas of action have been brought to the attention of the UNESCO, specifically by David Plummer, to continue there pursuit in this battle. Some of these proposals are:
- The curricula needs to be revisited and adjusted to ensure adequate HIV focus
- Additional HIV content should be added to school curricula
- Further attention should be directed to extracurricular, informal and peer-based education settings
- Social dimensions that provide to entrench HIV (e.g. peer group dynamics, gender roles, stigma and discrimination) should be addressed
- HFLE needs professionalising and solid academic foundations
- There should be constant reinforcement towards the prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Muxes of Juchitan
Our Latin American Cultures class watched a video called, “Queers in Paradise” about the city of Juchitan, Mexico. We found another video that dealt with these same concepts on YouTube about Juchitan and its people.It is a documentary on the large population of homosexuals and muxes that live freely throughout the city. Muxe is a Zapotec word used in Juchitan that refers to people with different sexual preferences. They are also known to be “half man, half woman.” In other parts of Mexico, they are called queers, queens, and gays, but not here. Juchitan is a city of a welcoming environment, where muxes are respected. According to a myth, they say God sent St. Vincente Ferrer to place people in the states. He placed men and women there but also carried a special sack with muxes for all the towns and villages. But in Juchitan, the sack broke and out came all the homosexuals. This is why there are more muxes in Juchitan than other places. This is the anecdote on why there are so many muxes. The town is very accepting of them, seeing them as “loveable and nice.” There are also short stories on different muxes’ lives such as Felina and Marsela.
View the Video Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz-NL1HcGaA
View the Video Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz-NL1HcGaA
Monday, October 13, 2008
HIV/ AIDS in Latin America
When most people think of HIV or AIDS, the first thing that comes to mind is Africa, and the major problems that they are faced with dealing with this epidemic. But not too many people realize that Latin America has a major problem on their hands as well. Currently there are roughly 1.7 million people living with HIV in Latin America, that is more than the United States, Canada, Japan and the UK combined and the situation is going to get worse before it gets better. The HIV and AIDS problems in Latin America are referred to as a "hidden crisis" because awareness is so low. The main factors contributing to this epidemic are the high levels of poverty, and migration. The biggest groups that are affected by this are the sex workers, injecting drug users, migrants and the biggest- homosexuals.
The highest levels of HIV infection are amongst "men who have sex with men", many statistics do not show this because most of the homosexual men dealing with the virus, don't want to admit to having the virus or how they contracted the virus, so they are labeled at heterosexuals with the virus. One government official says that "annual spending estimates... confirm that many Latin American countries make little effort to provide AIDS-related services that address the needs of men who have sex with men... often, health professionals are too embarrassed to ask the right questions and even if asked, men are afraid to provide the right answers." Now in my mind this is a huge problem, because in order to fix a problem who need to know the causes, and if people, especially doctors are unwilling to cooperate and ask the correct questions to help fix this problem, then Latin America is going to have an even bigger problem on their hands sooner than they think.
Sex workers also have a high level of HIV as well, but more with the street based sex workers as opposed to brothel sex workers. The prevalence rate of HIV amongst sex workers is between 2 to 16 percent. Some countries in Latin America have low levels of HIV and other have high amongst sex workers, but regardless its a problem in all Latin America countries.
Ever since the countries shifted from a dictatorship to a democracies, citizens started experimenting with drugs-simply because they could. Because of this HIV is spread between drug users who share infected needles. This is a big concern that many countries are trying to deal with, but with the easy availability of herion in most latin Ameican countries, it has people worried that the prevalence of HIV amongst this group with continue to rise in the years to come, regardless of what the government does.
Migration is another group that is greatly affected by the spread of HIV, but this is more of a global problem than a Latin American problem because poor migrants are leaving Latin America and traveling elsewhere and are taking the virus with them. To make money along the way, many of them have to resort to sex, therefore spreading the virus even more.
Prevention of HIV in Latin America is on a much smaller scale than it should be, and that is mainly because it is largely dependent on non-governmental organizations, and that is because of a lack of resources thought the region of Latin America. The countries promote the use of condoms and encourage testing, but that is simply not enough. Brazil has been the most successful country to deal with the prevention issue, they have spent a lot of money on advertisements and campaigns encouraging condom use, abstinence and testing, and they also have given out free condoms to help contain the virus. Also they have open needle exchange center, to where addicts can get clean needles which has significantly reduced the rate of HIV among drug users. Luiz Loures, a Brazilian epidemiologist said that "Latin American countries are far behind when it comes to prevention for highly vulnerable populations like men who have sex with men and injecting drug users. My conclusion is it look easier for a government o deal with treatment than prevention."
The biggest acheivment that Latin America has accomlished would be antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), which is a treatment for AIDS, and 71 % of the people with AIDS are receiving this treatment, which is huge considering the amount of poverty in the region.
Discrimination in Latin America is another major problem, people with HIV are sometimes considered a health risk to others, and are looked down upon. For example, "in Peru, soccer player Eduardo Esidio, was removed from the University Sports Club professional team when it was discovered that he was HIV positive. The clubs' directors argued that if he was allowed to stay, he would be a health risk to other players." This mans job was taken away from him because he was HIV positive, which in my mind is not fair. Because of this discrimination, it makes the spread of HIV hidden and possibly even more lethal. People with HIV or AIDS do not want to tell people that they have contracted the disease, so nobody knows, which leaves a lot more people at risk.
HIV and AIDS are a major problem in Latin America, and until the awareness level is significantly raised, and Governments start taking action along with International Aid, nothing is going to get better. Latin America usually gets neglected because of their poverty, and they get overlooked due to the epidemic in Africa and the rising problems in Asia. Overall this is a problem that needs to be contained and hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later.
Source: http://www.avert.org/aidslatinamerica.htm
The highest levels of HIV infection are amongst "men who have sex with men", many statistics do not show this because most of the homosexual men dealing with the virus, don't want to admit to having the virus or how they contracted the virus, so they are labeled at heterosexuals with the virus. One government official says that "annual spending estimates... confirm that many Latin American countries make little effort to provide AIDS-related services that address the needs of men who have sex with men... often, health professionals are too embarrassed to ask the right questions and even if asked, men are afraid to provide the right answers." Now in my mind this is a huge problem, because in order to fix a problem who need to know the causes, and if people, especially doctors are unwilling to cooperate and ask the correct questions to help fix this problem, then Latin America is going to have an even bigger problem on their hands sooner than they think.
Sex workers also have a high level of HIV as well, but more with the street based sex workers as opposed to brothel sex workers. The prevalence rate of HIV amongst sex workers is between 2 to 16 percent. Some countries in Latin America have low levels of HIV and other have high amongst sex workers, but regardless its a problem in all Latin America countries.
Ever since the countries shifted from a dictatorship to a democracies, citizens started experimenting with drugs-simply because they could. Because of this HIV is spread between drug users who share infected needles. This is a big concern that many countries are trying to deal with, but with the easy availability of herion in most latin Ameican countries, it has people worried that the prevalence of HIV amongst this group with continue to rise in the years to come, regardless of what the government does.
Migration is another group that is greatly affected by the spread of HIV, but this is more of a global problem than a Latin American problem because poor migrants are leaving Latin America and traveling elsewhere and are taking the virus with them. To make money along the way, many of them have to resort to sex, therefore spreading the virus even more.
Prevention of HIV in Latin America is on a much smaller scale than it should be, and that is mainly because it is largely dependent on non-governmental organizations, and that is because of a lack of resources thought the region of Latin America. The countries promote the use of condoms and encourage testing, but that is simply not enough. Brazil has been the most successful country to deal with the prevention issue, they have spent a lot of money on advertisements and campaigns encouraging condom use, abstinence and testing, and they also have given out free condoms to help contain the virus. Also they have open needle exchange center, to where addicts can get clean needles which has significantly reduced the rate of HIV among drug users. Luiz Loures, a Brazilian epidemiologist said that "Latin American countries are far behind when it comes to prevention for highly vulnerable populations like men who have sex with men and injecting drug users. My conclusion is it look easier for a government o deal with treatment than prevention."
The biggest acheivment that Latin America has accomlished would be antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), which is a treatment for AIDS, and 71 % of the people with AIDS are receiving this treatment, which is huge considering the amount of poverty in the region.
Discrimination in Latin America is another major problem, people with HIV are sometimes considered a health risk to others, and are looked down upon. For example, "in Peru, soccer player Eduardo Esidio, was removed from the University Sports Club professional team when it was discovered that he was HIV positive. The clubs' directors argued that if he was allowed to stay, he would be a health risk to other players." This mans job was taken away from him because he was HIV positive, which in my mind is not fair. Because of this discrimination, it makes the spread of HIV hidden and possibly even more lethal. People with HIV or AIDS do not want to tell people that they have contracted the disease, so nobody knows, which leaves a lot more people at risk.
HIV and AIDS are a major problem in Latin America, and until the awareness level is significantly raised, and Governments start taking action along with International Aid, nothing is going to get better. Latin America usually gets neglected because of their poverty, and they get overlooked due to the epidemic in Africa and the rising problems in Asia. Overall this is a problem that needs to be contained and hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later.
Source: http://www.avert.org/aidslatinamerica.htm
Monday, September 29, 2008
Young Chilean Teenagers Experiment with Sexuality
Chile was once known as one of Latin America’s most morally and sexually conservative countries, however, the culture and activities have drastically changed in as quickly as four or five years. At Bar Urbano, teenagers as young as fourteen are dancing, grinding, and making sexual advances while dancing with other teens among the crowd. “Chile’s youth are clearly having sex earlier and testing the borderlines with their sexual conduct,” said Dr. Ramiro Molina, director of the University of Chile’s Center for Adolescent Reproductive Medicine and Development.
In particular, a website called Fotolog, allows young teenagers to “trade suggestive photos of each other and organize weekend parties, some of which have drawn more than 4,500 teenagers. The online networks have emboldened teenagers to express themselves in ways that were never customary in Chile’s conservative society” (Barrioneuvo). Today’s Chile’s population is at 16 million and there are 4.8 million people in Chile with Fotolog accounts. Moreover, children age 12-17 hold 60% of the accounts! “Party promoters use Fotolog, as well as MSN Messenger, to organize their weekend gatherings, inviting Fotolog stars — the site’s most popular users, based on the number of comments they get — to help publicize the parties and attend as paid V.I.P.’s. Many of the partygoers use their online nicknames exclusively, and some of the wildest events are dominated by teenagers who call themselves the “Pokemones,” with their multiple piercings, angular and pressed hair, and devil-may-care attitude” (Barrioneuvo). The photos that are placed on the website are very provocative poses.
In response to the allegations of teenagers experimenting in their sexuality, Michele Bravo, 17 responds: “We are not the children of the dictatorship; we are the children of democracy. There is much more of a rebellious spirit among young people today. There is much more freedom to explore everything.”
Years ago, under Augusto Pinochet’s harsh dictatorship, many Chileans fought hard to bring their children and grandchildren the freedom they deserve. The country just “legalized divorce in 2004 and still has a strict ban on abortion, the feverish sexual exploration of the younger generation is posing new challenges for parents and educators. Sex education in public schools is badly lagging and the pregnancy rate among girls under 15 has been on the rise, according to the Health Ministry” (Barrioneuvo). The newfound freedoms that Chile has found have given them advances on surfing explicit content from the Internet. Children from Chile (ages 6-17) are actually surfing the Internet more than other South American children.
Chile also has a stable, market based economy that has aided them in consumer spending and credit in the country. Chile has also become “Latin American’s biggest per-capita consumer of digital technology, including cell phones, cable television and Internet broadband accounts, according to a study by the Santiago consulting firm Everis and the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Navarra in Spain” (Barrioneuvo).
This was actually seen at Club Urbano one afternoon. It was documented and revealed: “A 17-year-old boy, Claudio, danced with Francisca Durán, also 17, whom he had just met, and soon the two were kissing and rubbing their bodies together. They posed eagerly for photos, sucking each other’s fingers as Claudio put his hands under the girl’s T-shirt. Within minutes they separated and he began playing with the hair of another girl. Soon, they, too, were kissing passionately. Claudio, who declined to give his last name, made out with at least two other girls that night” (Barrioneuvo).
Mr. Munoz and his brother actually defend the clubs as good, clean fun. At the Cadillac Club, there is no drinking but smoking is allowed and heavily active. Security guards throw out boys that offend and grope girls.
Nicole Valenzuela, 14 spoke out about the clubs when taking a break from dancing at the Cadillac Club: “Everything starts with the kiss. After the kiss follows making out, and after that, penetration and oral sex. That’s what’s going on, sometimes even in public places.”
However, her mother, Danitza Geisel, a 34-year-old sex therapist, said in an interview that she “did not worry about her daughter’s attending the parties and, expressing a somewhat contrarian view among academics here, she said the current generation of teenagers was no more promiscuous than previous ones. But Ms. Geisel lamented the dearth of sex education in Chile” (Barrioneuvo).
What’s important to note is that sex education was never received by most adults in Chile. In 1973, Pinochet actually ordered the government to destroy materials related to sex education. Not until 1993 did sex education reenter public schools. Yet, by 2005, “47 percent of students said they were receiving sex education only once or twice a year, if at all. And now educators say they are struggling to keep up with the avalanche of sexual information and images on the Internet” (Barrioneuvo).
So what is to become of these sexual teenage youngsters that thrive off dance clubs and “sexual gurus”? Perhaps we will find out as soon as when time goes on whether these clubs are pure fun or purely definite ways of sending the country of Chile into a sexually chaotic situation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/13/world/americas/13chile.html?_r=1&ref=americas&oref=slogin
In particular, a website called Fotolog, allows young teenagers to “trade suggestive photos of each other and organize weekend parties, some of which have drawn more than 4,500 teenagers. The online networks have emboldened teenagers to express themselves in ways that were never customary in Chile’s conservative society” (Barrioneuvo). Today’s Chile’s population is at 16 million and there are 4.8 million people in Chile with Fotolog accounts. Moreover, children age 12-17 hold 60% of the accounts! “Party promoters use Fotolog, as well as MSN Messenger, to organize their weekend gatherings, inviting Fotolog stars — the site’s most popular users, based on the number of comments they get — to help publicize the parties and attend as paid V.I.P.’s. Many of the partygoers use their online nicknames exclusively, and some of the wildest events are dominated by teenagers who call themselves the “Pokemones,” with their multiple piercings, angular and pressed hair, and devil-may-care attitude” (Barrioneuvo). The photos that are placed on the website are very provocative poses.
In response to the allegations of teenagers experimenting in their sexuality, Michele Bravo, 17 responds: “We are not the children of the dictatorship; we are the children of democracy. There is much more of a rebellious spirit among young people today. There is much more freedom to explore everything.”
Years ago, under Augusto Pinochet’s harsh dictatorship, many Chileans fought hard to bring their children and grandchildren the freedom they deserve. The country just “legalized divorce in 2004 and still has a strict ban on abortion, the feverish sexual exploration of the younger generation is posing new challenges for parents and educators. Sex education in public schools is badly lagging and the pregnancy rate among girls under 15 has been on the rise, according to the Health Ministry” (Barrioneuvo). The newfound freedoms that Chile has found have given them advances on surfing explicit content from the Internet. Children from Chile (ages 6-17) are actually surfing the Internet more than other South American children.
Chile also has a stable, market based economy that has aided them in consumer spending and credit in the country. Chile has also become “Latin American’s biggest per-capita consumer of digital technology, including cell phones, cable television and Internet broadband accounts, according to a study by the Santiago consulting firm Everis and the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Navarra in Spain” (Barrioneuvo).
This was actually seen at Club Urbano one afternoon. It was documented and revealed: “A 17-year-old boy, Claudio, danced with Francisca Durán, also 17, whom he had just met, and soon the two were kissing and rubbing their bodies together. They posed eagerly for photos, sucking each other’s fingers as Claudio put his hands under the girl’s T-shirt. Within minutes they separated and he began playing with the hair of another girl. Soon, they, too, were kissing passionately. Claudio, who declined to give his last name, made out with at least two other girls that night” (Barrioneuvo).
Mr. Munoz and his brother actually defend the clubs as good, clean fun. At the Cadillac Club, there is no drinking but smoking is allowed and heavily active. Security guards throw out boys that offend and grope girls.
Nicole Valenzuela, 14 spoke out about the clubs when taking a break from dancing at the Cadillac Club: “Everything starts with the kiss. After the kiss follows making out, and after that, penetration and oral sex. That’s what’s going on, sometimes even in public places.”
However, her mother, Danitza Geisel, a 34-year-old sex therapist, said in an interview that she “did not worry about her daughter’s attending the parties and, expressing a somewhat contrarian view among academics here, she said the current generation of teenagers was no more promiscuous than previous ones. But Ms. Geisel lamented the dearth of sex education in Chile” (Barrioneuvo).
What’s important to note is that sex education was never received by most adults in Chile. In 1973, Pinochet actually ordered the government to destroy materials related to sex education. Not until 1993 did sex education reenter public schools. Yet, by 2005, “47 percent of students said they were receiving sex education only once or twice a year, if at all. And now educators say they are struggling to keep up with the avalanche of sexual information and images on the Internet” (Barrioneuvo).
So what is to become of these sexual teenage youngsters that thrive off dance clubs and “sexual gurus”? Perhaps we will find out as soon as when time goes on whether these clubs are pure fun or purely definite ways of sending the country of Chile into a sexually chaotic situation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/13/world/americas/13chile.html?_r=1&ref=americas&oref=slogin
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Increasing Sexual Awareness in Venezuela
September 24, 2008
Increasing Sexual Awareness in Venezuela
Now more than ever there has been an increasing awareness among current generations about sexual awareness and about the diseases that can cause a life time of pain, pills, and in cases fatality. Just a few decades ago it was considered normal for women to get married and have children before or close to the age of twenty. It was normal for men to become sexually active at the beginning of their teen years. Nowadays, women in Venezuela are being educated about the problems that stem from early sexual activity as well as early pregnancy.
Currently, there are about 15 million girls ages 15-19 that have children around the world (Munoz 146). What educators are trying to accomplish is to inform adolescents in Venezuela to think more about the problems that can happen with an early exposure to sex and the repercussions such as STDs and child abuse due to the lack of maturity in the parents because they themselves sometimes are merely children.
The Venezuelan Association for Alternative Sex Education (AVESA) is a 16-year-old non-governmental organization based in Caracas, providing community sex education, and promoting reproductive and sexual health (147). They believe that affective and cultural factors determine people’s experience and conception of sexuality.
Mercedes Munoz
www.jstor.org
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Buenos Aires Becoming a More Attractive Tourist Location to Homosexuals
Once thought of as a reservoir of macho attitude, the city of Buenos Aires has recently begun to cater to a more sexually diverse demographic of tourists. The opening of the Axel Hotel is a clear sign of this, as it is Latin America’s first luxury hotel built exclusively for gay customers. This marketing experiment denotes progressive change in the way Argentina perceives the acceptance of gays and lesbians in their community. Having vanquished an authoritative dictatorship in 1983, Argentina has shown signs of being much more accepting of the gay community with Buenos Aires becoming the first major Latin American city to legalize same sex Unions in 2002 (Barrionuevo 1). Furthermore, the city hosted a World Cup exclusively for gay soccer players in the summer of 2007 which was also a first in the region (Barrionuevo 2).
One of the main reasons for this progressive change occurred in the 1990s when the peso became pegged to the dollar which in turn gave Argentineans more spending power, allowed them to travel abroad and learn the ways of different cultures. Additionally, in 2001 the entire nation was stricken with an economic chaos that made people care increasingly less about sexual orientation, as journalist Osvaldo Bazan put it, “When people are eating out of garbage cans it really doesn’t matter if you are gay or not” (Barrionuevo 2). So, as the currency devalued the already beautiful city of Buenos Aires became an even bigger attraction to western tourists, many of whom were gay and lesbian. The influx of new, wealthy, and western tourists led marketers to more aggressively target gay tourists; now the travel industry estimates that about 20% of tourists in Buenos Aires are gay and spend roughly $600 million in the city per year (Barrionuevo 2).
These new social developments in Argentina’s capital city are major indicators of how Latin American culture perceives sexual identity. Furthermore, Uruguay’s lower house in Congress legalized homosexual unions, as did Argentina after young activists fought for the legalization despite the Roman Catholic Church’s resistance. While one could argue that gays are only being accepted because of the large financial benefits they bring to a country that has recently come out of economic chaos, it is impossible to ignore the social implications that a luxury hotel can bring to a city. An openly gay friendly hotel will clearly become a hot spot for homosexuals to interact, but a luxury openly gay friendly hotel will bring people with larger wealth and influence to the city and provide a popular location for heterosexuals and homosexuals to interact. In doing so, this hotel is an example of Latin America’s tolerance of diverse sexual identities. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/world/americas/03argentina.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
One of the main reasons for this progressive change occurred in the 1990s when the peso became pegged to the dollar which in turn gave Argentineans more spending power, allowed them to travel abroad and learn the ways of different cultures. Additionally, in 2001 the entire nation was stricken with an economic chaos that made people care increasingly less about sexual orientation, as journalist Osvaldo Bazan put it, “When people are eating out of garbage cans it really doesn’t matter if you are gay or not” (Barrionuevo 2). So, as the currency devalued the already beautiful city of Buenos Aires became an even bigger attraction to western tourists, many of whom were gay and lesbian. The influx of new, wealthy, and western tourists led marketers to more aggressively target gay tourists; now the travel industry estimates that about 20% of tourists in Buenos Aires are gay and spend roughly $600 million in the city per year (Barrionuevo 2).
These new social developments in Argentina’s capital city are major indicators of how Latin American culture perceives sexual identity. Furthermore, Uruguay’s lower house in Congress legalized homosexual unions, as did Argentina after young activists fought for the legalization despite the Roman Catholic Church’s resistance. While one could argue that gays are only being accepted because of the large financial benefits they bring to a country that has recently come out of economic chaos, it is impossible to ignore the social implications that a luxury hotel can bring to a city. An openly gay friendly hotel will clearly become a hot spot for homosexuals to interact, but a luxury openly gay friendly hotel will bring people with larger wealth and influence to the city and provide a popular location for heterosexuals and homosexuals to interact. In doing so, this hotel is an example of Latin America’s tolerance of diverse sexual identities. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/world/americas/03argentina.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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